The Last Two Months...

have been a whirl wind, to say the least… As I sit here in my classroom, during my plan break, breast pumps hooked up, I realize how far I’ve come and how much I’ve already learned.

Stella’s birth (my labor) was what one would call “less than ideal” and after my five day stay in the hospital following the labor, due to my high blood pressure, things were getting a little unsettling. We finally made it home on the Monday afternoon following the birth. Blood pressure problems are a funny thing as you don’t realize there’s a problem and it’s frustrating to be “held against your will” in a hospital room because of something you don’t realize. Needless to say my emotions were ramped. I wanted to stay to get the right treatments, but I also wanted to go home and start my new life as a mommy. (They dared tried to release Stella before me too, don’t mess with a hormonal women people!!)

I only got six weeks off, including my Christmas break, no, it doesn’t sound right to me either, but I’m not in a position to argue. So my six week maternity leave started out late, as I was in the hospital for the first week. The second week I developed a breast infection in my left breast. It was hot, swollen, and red. I had a 102 fever and called my momma. She came up and took care of me and Stella, as it’s a whole new challenge to take care of a baby when you’re sick. Michael took a day off too, bless them both. I got antibiotics, and it took a full three days to feel like myself again.

The month of December was a fast one (not that any of them seem slow lately). My brother graduated from college, about an hour and a half road trip, Stella’s first, and she did wonderfully. The following weekend was Christmas. All our family came to us, which was nice and convenient. And the weekend after that was New Year’s and we hung out with Paul and Julie (fellow parent friends), watch the Hangover and toasted midnight with a small glass of campaign, while our babies all slept in the next room.

The rest of January was spent with me fretting about picking the right childcare for Stella when I returned to work, Michael and I having “strong” discussions about schedules, feeding, care, sleeping, me Googleing everything from ‘La Leche League’ to ‘normal poop smells’… and January 13 I was back to work.

My mom came up and stayed those two days and the following week with Stella. It was hard to leave her, though guiltfully I say it was nice to be back to the real world and have some adult interaction. The week my mom was here I got two snow days, so it wasn’t too bad. Michael spent the following week with Stella, which was good for him, nerve-racking for me. And here we are into the daycare week of it all. Which is going well as she’s only been there a day an a half due to the blizzard of 2011, makes it easier on me, but hard that next week will be the full week. It’s kind of like I got my full eight weeks with her after all.

That’s was a catch up in a nutshell, I will be posting more, at least for my sake.